Ogona Anita
The National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 44-year-old businessman, Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka Christian, at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA).
Chukwuebuka, who was on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran, was apprehended for ingesting 53 wraps of cocaine.
This development comes barely two weeks after the Agency arrested one 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) Kano.
Speaking via a statement made available to Naija News on Sunday, the NDLEA revealed that Christian was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday, 7th June, while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha after a body scan proved positive for congestion of illicit drug.
He was placed on excretion observation, during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172kg. The suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos intercepted an Italy-bound passenger, Edobor Ambrose Ali, on an Air France flight in the early hours of Saturday 1, June 14th
The NDLEA officers, in collaboration with the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the suspect during baggage scanning on the tarmac
The suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification ,after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14,410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jackets. In his statement, Ebodor said he lives in Italy, where he was hired and sent on an all-expense paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy, for a fee of 2000 Euros.
At the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers state, NDLEA operatives on Friday, 13th June, intercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over ₦1.1 billion naira in street value,during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies. The opioid consignments were hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.
At least three suspects, Friday Achibong Joseph, 47; Abraham Anthony Willy, 21, and Utibe David Okon, 24, were arrested on Thursday 12th June when NDLEA operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani LGA, Cross River state, where a total of 2,687kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, was recovered. Same day in Bauchi state, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence, arrested the duo of Iriemi Imonikhe, 49, and Sa’idu Ladan, 30, along Bauchi -Jos road after 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287kg were discovered in their Toyota Camry car marked AKL 201 GG.
While 14 jumbo sacks of skunk weighing 560kg were recovered from a wooden boat at Oniru beach in Lagos by operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA on Thursday 12th June, officers of the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri (MBIAM) same day arrested two businessmen: Ishaku Abdullahi, 30; and Buba Usman, 32, at the arrival hall of the domestic wing of the airport with various quantities of ecstasy and skunk packaged in fanciful wraps labelled
